Denis Campbell’s article rightly highlights the UK’s worsening health outcomes (UK ‘the sick person of the wealthy world’ amid increase in deaths from drugs and violence, 20 May), but it overlooks a key driver: the sharp rise in preventable accidents.
Research by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) shows that the rate of accidental deaths has surged by 42% in the past decade and has risen fastest in the middle-aged. Accidents are now the second leading cause of death for under‑40s. These are not random tragedies; they are systemic failures.
